CrazyA: Everyone, I'd like you to meet Doctor Cockraoch: my fourth male obsession.

Jack O'Lantern, Zim and the Joker: Hi.

Dr.C: The pleasure's mine.

CrazyA: OH MY GOD YOU'RE BRITISH!!!


1. Started With a Bang
And I know, I know it's not your time. But bye, bye. And a word to the wise when the fire dies. You think it's over but it's just begun, baby don't cry...' – Little Piece of Heaven, Avenged Sevenfold

Sunny skies, not a cloud in sight, and the little town of Nocturne being a happy part of the USA. Typical day, typical people. Smoke blowing from the tops of the nuclear plant, mothers talking with their friends. It was the new millennium, the year 2000, and since the end of the world didn't happen (not yet anyway) everyone was ready for things to get great.

For Wendy, the day was just starting.

At 10:45 a.m. in her bedroom.

More specifically, under the warm covers that she had spent nearly every morning for the past seven years.

But this isn't the start of the story, that's coming later. This is more of an introduction, just so that you can see how ordinary and simple her life was before everything happened.

So back to Wendy.

Her full name was Wendy Ebony Summers, and was often the start of a Buffy conversation. She wished she was more like the Miss Summers of TV, confident and gorgeous while kicking the butt of serious evil. But no, she was stuck with her mouse-brown hair and a worthless job.

And this morning, the twenty-three year-old was going to die.

She woke up groggily and looked over to the neon red letters on her clock, her pupils went tiny. "Late! I'm always, always late!!" She raced to her closet, tearing off her clothes along the way as she pulled some clean office-worker ones on. After brushing both her hair and her teeth, she fixed on some lip-gloss and deodorant and bolted out the door. She didn't bother with breakfast, they had a coffee machine at the plant.

She raced to the driveway and fumbled with her keys, muttering as many swear words to herself as she could. "C'mon, c'mon..." she whispered impatiently. She finally got the tiny blue car open and hopped inside, not bothering to put on a seatbelt in her rush. Just as she started up the car, her mobile phone rang. She swore and picked it up, answering with a very tired 'hello.'

"Hey, Wendy!" a familiar but irritating voice said. "I tried calling you earlier but I could only leave a message-"

"Jake! For Pete's sake hang up!" Wendy screamed into the phone. "I'm not going out with you and I'm going to be late for work!!"

"Wendy, you're already late, a little bit of a conversation wouldn't hurt..." Jake said. Jake was the boy down the street who had a crush on Wendy, but it was really more of an obsession. Once she caught him rooting through her garbage. Slimy little pest... he had greasy hair and bright eyes that glowed with something Wendy could never trust.

"Shut up!" Wendy hung up sharply and pressed her foot on the accelerator, the engine roaring as she sped down the street ad fast as she could. Nocturne's streets were practically empty anyway, so no one tooted their horn as she broke several laws at once.

Wendy parked her car and ran as fast as she could to the information desk, still buttoning on her badge. The receptionist gave her a worried look before grabbing Wendy by the sleeve.

"You're late again..."

"I know, I know."

"That's the fifth time."

"I know."

"Don't make me report you to Mr Collins."

"You said that the last five times, now let me go get the kids!" Wendy shook her off and ran through the sliding doors, fixing her hair along the way as she tried not to trip in her high-heels. She hated high-heels; she didn't see the point of them. But in the plant, women had to wear respectable outfits to keep up the company image unless working inside the construction areas.

The group of children were causing a ruckus in the reception while the teacher, which was looking extremely ticked, strutted up to Wendy in her own kitten-clickers and looked her furiously in the eye behind thin glasses.

"You were meant to be here exactly half an hour ago!" she hissed, smoke coming from her ears. The class kept screaming and running around behind them, not caring what time the forgetful guide had gotten here, they still had to leave by 12:00 and didn't care about how they spent there time here. "Do you want me to report you to your boss? Because I, young lady, will do so!!"

"I'm really sorry! There was a Buffy marathon last night and my car wouldn't open and my friend-"

"I don't care about your stupid program or your love-life! Just show these kids around the damn factory!" she screeched. She turned and strutted off outside, lighting up a cigarette with some other teachers. Gosh, the education standards at public schools...

"Excuse me, everyone?" Wendy called out, waving her hand for attention. "Hello?" The class continued their noise, some even getting louder just to block her voice out. Wendy sighed and pressed her fingers to her lips, sending out a high-pitched whistle to everyone. They turned around at last and Wendy cleared her throat.

"Hey there and welcome to Nocturne's Amanita Nuclear Plant, otherwise known as NANP. My name's Wendy and I'm going to give you a little bit of a history lesson today." The class gave her a blank look of disinterest, causing Wendy to sigh and give a similar expression back. "Alright, I'll be honest here... school is a snooze... so why don't I just show you around the really cool part of the factory and treat you all to something at the soda machine afterwards?"

The class erupted into cheering and followed her like mice as she made her way into the plant. She pulled out plastic box from an 'equipment cupboard' and handed out goggles... just to make them feel more important.

"So why are you guys here today?" Wendy asked, putting on her own goggles. There was silence until one girl, the 'nerd' of the herd, raised a hand. The other was kept at her side, clutching a tiny plastic dinosaur

"To learn more about the history of Nocturne?" she answered.

"Exactly right!" Wendy beamed. "And about the history of NANP."

"NANP's a gay name!" a boy called out. Wendy turned around and raised an eyebrow, bending over until she was looking directly into the boy's eyes. Her piercing blue orbs stung his green ones, and he even backed away a little bit.

"I bet your mother loves you..." she whispered, almost as a threat. She stood up straight again and kept walking, the class still following behind her. "So, what do you guys know about this place already?"

The same girl raised her hand, more confident this time, and Wendy let her answer. "Nocturne was founded in 1902, but with no source for electricity they decided on nuclear power instead."

Even Wendy didn't know about that, but she nodded and gave the girl a smile. "Anything else?" The girl raised her hand for the third time, while others just stared blankly at her. "From someone else..."

No volunteers.

Wendy sighed and looked at her watch. "We've got an hour left... what if I show you guys just one room and then we'll get soda?"

Everyone's faces perked up.

"But only if someone besides... sorry, what was your name?" Wendy asked, looking at the small blonde with squinted eyes.

"Gabby," she answered simply. "Gabby Winters."

"What a random happenstance! My last name is Summers!" Wendy said. She loved little things like that, it just made the world more interesting. The kids stared at her, blinking a few times and wondering why she just broke into that random spurt. "So if someone that isn't Gabby can answer a question, then I'll only show you one room."

Everyone raised a hand.

Wendy was by far one of the coolest tour-guides at NANP, which was the only reason why she still had her job after the several times of turning up late. Kids liked her, and she had a bright personality. Sure, she hated her job, but she was pretty darn good at it.

"NANP's main system core is the Mushroom Field," another child commented. Wendy smiled and put her badge to an identity pad, which scanned and gave a confirmed beep. She opened the door up wide and let the class walk inside quickly and excitedly. The room inside was like a box at a play, it had a grand view of everything beneath and beyond the glass protective glass window. There was a small set of stairs that led from the box to the futuristic-looking scene below.

The Mushroom Field.

It was a giant glowing green tank, with bubbling nuclear energy inside. People dressed in lab-coats were holding onto the controls and keeping it stable, but when their coffee break came the room would be deserted.

"One of the most important parts of this plant is the Mushroom Field..." Wendy said dramatically. "It's the place where every piece of electronics in Nocturne obtains their power and the very heart of the Amanita Nuclear Plant."

The previous kid, the one with the nasty comment, interrupted her train of thought again by asking: "Has it ever blown up?"

"You mean a meltdown?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah!"

"No, and it probably never will."

"Has anyone accidentally been mutated from the radiation?"

"That's impossible, the radiation doesn't seep through the glass. And whoever has to go inspect the raw energy of the tank is always wearing protective gear."

"But what if they weren't?"

"Anyone walking into the tank without protection is a moron," Wendy said, shutting up the kid at last. But not because of what she said, it was because of a beeping noise coming from the watch on her wrist. 11:45. Time for soda.

"Who's ready to get going to the canteen?" Wendy asked. A cheer exploded from everyone as they pushed their way back out the door. Wendy laughed and was about to walk out with them when she noticed something.

The door to the Mushroom Field was open.

Wendy slowly approached the stairs, the glass door wedged open with a lonely sneaker. In its place, she left her high-heels and quickly walked barefoot down the metal case with the sneaker in hand. All the workers and supervisors had left for coffee, so no one was guarding the area. Except for one small little girl with light curls of hair: Gabby.

"Hey, you've gotta get moving kiddo!" Wendy said, trying to remain clam. She was so dead.

In more ways than one, actually.

"I-I just wanted a closer look!" Gabby cried, tears in her eyes.

"Well we gotta go before someone catches us!"

"But my dinosaur is somewhere down here!" Gabby cried. Wendy grabbed her hand and quickly dragged her back up the stairs, trying not to get herself fired. As soon as she reached the top of the stairs and put Gabby behind the glass, she shoved the pair of sneakers into the little girl's hands. "My dinosaur!"

Wendy sighed and ran back down the stairs, the glass door closing behind her and her high-heels with Gabby. She raced over to the control panels and looked around for the little red thing.

It's only two dollars at the local toy-store, by another one for Pete's sake! Wendy thought to herself. After several minutes of searching, she spotted a stubby red tail poking from behind a blinking panel of buttons and dials. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed.

But just as she leant over the panel, which was not the smartest thing to do, she slowly turned a dial from '30% POWER' into an incredibly dangerous and stupid '99.99999%'.

At once, the green tank started glowing brighter. Wendy saw this at once, backing away slowly from the tank. She raced back up the stairs on speedy legs, shoved the dinosaur atop of Gabby's shoes, pushed the child outside the room entirely and went back downstairs. She grabbed a microphone, which was linked to the intercom system in case of something like this, and pressed a button down until her voice was heard through every speaker in the plant.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE MUST LEAVE THE PLANT NOW!" she screamed. "I REPEAT, EVERYONE MUST LEAVE THE PLANT RIGHT NOW!"

Another voice buzzed through the intercom, one that Wendy recognised as her boss Mr. Collins. "Miss Summers, what is the matter? Why are you calling from the Mushroom Field?"

"MR COLLINS! THE TANK IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!" she screeched into the microphone. At first, Mr Collins thought she was joking, but then the sudden reality hit him as he heard her sob and continue screaming into the system. "PLEASE! JUST GET OUT!"

"EVERYONE EVACUATE THE PLANT IMMEDIATELY!!" he yelled over the top of her own voice. "I'm switching on the lock-down, Wendy! Get out of that room now!"

The class of school-children were being hustled out of the factory by teachers, Gabby clutching her precious dinosaur to her chest. All the workers that were once waiting in line behind the coffee machine were racing to their cars and driving the hell away from the plant, some even planning to pick up their families from home and leave the entire town.

But Wendy, exhausted from the running, was slower than them.

She panted as she ran up the metal stairs, watching and groaning as the metal door slowly started to close. Just one more step and she could make it...

"NO!" she screamed as the door brushed her fingertips, closing and locking tightly. "NO! This can't be happening!!" She scratched at the doorhandle with her fingernails, tears dripping slowly down her face in fat sobs of terror. She slammed her fist on the door, sobbing heavily with her face pressed against the glass.

"Wendy?!? Are you out of there?!? Please, give a response! Respond!" Mr Collins for once wasn't ordering, he was begging. Wendy wiped her ski-slope nose on her sleeve and slowly walked down the stairs again. She picked up the microphone and swallowed back tears.

"I-I'm here, sir."

There was silence as Mr. Collins inspected where the source was. Mushroom Field. He sighed and turned back to the microphone. "Wendy... I can't undo a lockdown. I'm sorry."

Wendy sobbed and fell to the floor, her throat raw from her screams. "I-I know you are... it was my own fault anyway... I was too slow... I knew I shouldn't have cut those gym classes..." She looked up at the glowing green tank, her blue eyes going pink from her tears. "So is there anything I can do to make it easier for me?"

"It's going to be over in a blink, Wendy..." Mr Collins said as he tried to be comforting. "It'll be okay... you've got a good seat in the clouds waiting for you."

"Thanks, sir." It didn't answer her question, but it did help her a little bit. "Now get going, you've got a wife and daughter to take care of."

Mr Collins wiped away tears behind his glasses. He had never really liked Wendy that much, he barely knew her, but if you had ever talked to a person and heard their very last words... then of course you'll understand why he was crying. "God bless you, Wendy."

With a crackle and fizz, the communication was cut.

Wendy put the microphone back in the proper stand, staring at the giant green tank. A crack in the glass was starting to form as the energy inside tried to push its way out. Wendy backed away slowly from it, but her stockinged feet slipped on the floor. She fell back down, a few metres or so away from it, and waited for the beginning of our story.

For the big bang.


CrazyA: ...now what do we do?

DrC: DDR?

CrazyA: ..........................................................................................................................yes. REVIEW!!